MAYORAL CANDIDATE SELLS BUSINESS SHARE

DON STACOM; Courant Staff WriterTHE HARTFORD COURANT

Seeking to stem questions about a potential conflict of interest, Republican mayoral candidate Ken Johnson has sold his interest in the partnership that is advising the city on how to get energy rebates.

Johnson announced that his share of Municipal Energy Consulting Group LLC has been purchased by James Krone, who now controls 100 percent of the business.

"I have no economic interest in it. There was not and is not any conflict of interest," Johnson said Monday.

Johnson, a former Connecticut Light & Power employee who founded Municipal Energy, said he had planned to transfer the business to Krone after the election. The sale simply was completed sooner, he said.

Just days before the Republican town committee endorsed Johnson as its mayoral candidate, Republican Mayor William Stortz clashed publicly with Johnson about Municipal Energy's work performance.

At a city council meeting, Stortz said the city had gotten no progress reports from the business, despite paying $10,000 -- and offering more in commissions -- when it hired Municipal Energy last winter. The partnership researches how much CL&P; overcharged municipalities for streetlights over the past 20 years. When a refund is secured for a city or town, the company gets a percentage of the money.

Earlier this month, Johnson complained that city workers weren't supplying him with key information for his research and suggested that Stortz was using the matter to play politics. Stortz has said he was trying only to ensure that Municipal Energy met its contractual obligations, and he insisted there was no political agenda. But Stortz and others raised an ethics question: Could Johnson continue being a city contractor if he's elected in November?

Soon after the dispute became public, Stortz, who already was facing some grass-roots opposition in his own party, announced he wouldn't run for another term. That left Johnson as the uncontested choice for GOP backing.

Johnson said he would relinquish his interest in the partnership if he wins the election. But late last week he sold his interest to Krone, who lists an address in Clermont, Fla. Krone could not be reached Monday. Johnson confirmed that he will stay in the energy consulting business and has formed a different business to handle contracts with Municipal Energy customers other than Bristol.

Stortz said Monday that the city's concern about Municipal Energy's performance isn't resolved. He said the business invited Corporation Counsel Richard Lacey to a meeting in Massachusetts to settle the differences, but added that Lacey didn't go.

"It shouldn't be up to us to travel two or three hours to meet with them at their convenience. They should come here -- this is where the information is," Stortz said. "When we deal with other firms, they come to our office."